Peyton was in complete shock when the Indianapolis Colts released him, asking
his longtime mentor and former coach David Cutcliffe,
"What does a free agent do?"

Manning was very annoyed with the O.J. Simpson-like media
following. So when he was ready to hear Broncos executive VP
John Elway's sales pitch over dinner the team
arranged for seven cars to leave the Broncos' facilities at the
same time with a few of them going to the wrong location.
Peyton jumped in a black SUV with tinted windows and the
Denver media didn't notice.

Manning met with the Miami Dolphins in Indianapolis of all
places, because he knew the annoying media wouldn't follow his
every move there

Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks flew in to Denver
while Peyton was there in hopes of luring him to the Seahawks.
Manning didn't like the surprise and told the team he wasn't
interested

When 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh flew to
watch Peyton throw at Duke, the entire thing was kept under
wraps. Harbaugh first only watched from inside of a car
parked near the field and then he and his offensive coordinator
came out of the car to get a better view, but kept their hoodies
on to avoid being recognized

In the end, Denver won out because they allowed Manning to
dictate the terms from the get go and made him feel the most
comfortable. Elway took a "What would I have wanted if put in a
similar situation?" approach to luring Peyton and didn't give him
the "hard sell"

King's entire piece paints the pursuit of Peyton as a clandestine
chase worthy of a Hollywood thriller, but it goes to show just
how coveted Manning was. Teams agreed to anything and everything
just to get a seat at the table.